Asian investor jailed, fined for offering bribe to service centre employee in Dubai

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an Asian investor to one year in jail and fined him Dhs10,000 on charges of offering Dhs10,000 as a bribe to a customer service employee at a government body centre.

The investor will be deported after serving his sentence.

The investor offered bribe in return for changing the commercial name of an administrative consulting company to a company for running and managing investments, without changing the company’s commercial activity in the licence, or obtaining the approval of the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA).

The case dates back to July 2021, when the female employee submitted a complaint alerting that a client offered her Dhs10,000 to change the activity of a commercial licence.

The employee said she told the suspect that was illegal and could not be done without submitting the approval from the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA).

The employee stated in the interrogations that the suspect repeated his request, but she refused, and he told her he would gift her a car, but she ignored his request.

She informed her manager who told her to pretend she had agreed until he informed the Department of Economic Development and the Police.

Later, when the suspect returned after the employee told him that she is ready to accept the 'deal,' the police arrested him red handed.

On being interrogated, he confessed to the crime and the prosecution referred him to the Criminal Court.